This small Bungalow with detached guest house is currently undergoing transformation. The home build in 936 sat vacant for several years and looked pretty beat up as evidenced by the “before” pic. Not sure if this home will be on the market to buy or if the new owner will be renting it out. The front house has 3 bedrooms and 1 bath, the guest house is bedroom, 1 bath. The home sits right across the street from Central Park facing north and should have a fabulous view of the Downtown Phoenix skyline at night.

Lots of good things happening in the neighborhood these days. Stay tuned!

To all Central Park residents and actually any City of Phoenix resident, the best way to beat taggers in their attempts to deface the property of others is to report Graffiti immediately. Simply send an email to blight@phoenix.gov with a photo and the location of the Graffiti.

Our neighborhood got some good news this past week. Our Neighborhood Association was selected to participate in a Leadership Program designed to strengthen organizations and leaders. In addition to the training our Leadership team will receive, we will qualify for the opportunity to receive funding from the City for a Neighborhood Enhancement project. Our # 1 priority at the moment is to start a tree planting project in our neighborhood utilizing native desert edible species. Stay tuned!

Last weekend, Central Park cleaned up their neighborhood, today, it was Grant Park’s turn. Thought I would stop by and see if I could lend a hand. Had a good time with the aid of several young men doing Community Service for the Maricopa County Probation Dept. Dedicated Public Servants from the City of Phoenix were there again today with Dumpsters, tools and supervision.

Grant Park is an emerging residential area on the south side of Downtown Phoenix. The neighborhood is bounded by Grant St on the North, Buckeye on the South, Central Ave on the East and 7th Ave on the West.

Sometime in 2019, Central Park residents will be able to walk to a huge, Fry’s urban Grocery Store. The Developers broke ground this past week on a Project across from Talking Stick Resort Arena that will feature the Fry’s store, 200,000 square feet of office and restaurant space and 330 apartments.

Read more about the new full-service Fry’s store and the rest of the new Project right here.

On Saturday April 8th, a handful of Central Park residents along with Volunteers from the downtown Phoenix Job Corps, a couple of awesome off-duty Phoenix PD and a couple of awesome City of Phoenix employees gathered in our neighborhood to scour the streets and alleys in search of trash, weeds and illegally dumped items. We filled two large dumpsters provided by the City, and afterwards were treated to Breakfast Burritos made especially for us by Taquerias El Chino, a new Mexican Restaurant that will be opening on Central Ave, next to the Wells Fargo branch at Grant St.

Special thanks to Roberto Frietz and Shirley Butler with the City of Phoenix Neighborhood Services Department who arranged the dumpsters and a tool trailer, Wells Fargo who provided bottled water and Taquerias El Chino for the breakfast burritos.

Our next Neighborhood Clean-Up will probably happen in the Fall. In the meantime, be on the lookout for other improvement projects.

Come join us on Saturday, April 8th from 8 AM to Noon as residents of the Central Park neighborhood engage in a neighborhood clean-up. The City of Phoenix Neighborhood Services Dept. will be providing 2 large dumpsters and a tool trailer for the effort. We could use a few volunteers with pickup trucks to haul trash from the alleys in the neighborhood to the dumpsters. We will be meeting in the parking lot of Phoenix Day Child & Family Center, 115 E Tonto St, right across the street from Central Park, between 1st and 2nd St.

Galvanize, a Denver based Technology co-working powerhouse just opened for business in February in a 120,000-square-foot, two-story building with a basement in a renovated produce warehouse at 515 E. Grant St. According to the Phoenix Business Journal, as many as 48 separate businesses will be moving into the massive building. Imagine the Brain Power”!

The Annual Art Detour sponsored by ArtLink, the city of Phoenix and Downtown Phoenix Inc. is expanding this year from 2 days to 4 days. The 29th year of this signature arts and culture event includes the 5th annual Art d’Core Gala, a special Third Friday Gallery Night, and an Art Detour weekend schedule of demonstrations, installations and more.

The annual celebration begins Thursday evening, March 16, at the 5th annual Art d’Core Gala. Held at Warehouse215 @ Bentley Projects in the heart of the emerging and dynamic Warehouse District. This fun spin on a traditional “gala” annually spotlights the significant contribution of the arts in creating a dynamic city.

An interesting addition to this year’s tour will be getting to visit local artists in their private studios.

An article on the AZtech.org website, written by Matthew Coxhead details the emergence of the Downtown Phoenix Warehouse District as a hub for Tech companies. Of course, the Central Park neighborhood is located right on the edge of the Warehouse District, which should certainly have a positive effect on the neighborhood as some of those employees may want to live close enough to their job to walk to work.

Coxhead said “As inventory continues to tighten and rent remains at historical highs for the more traditional submarkets, Phoenix’s Warehouse District is gaining momentum as a viable alternative for technology companies. Not only does the Warehouse District provide space at a fraction of the cost of Phoenix’s other top tech locations, but it also provides an opportunity to turn obsolete warehouse space into modern, creative office product.

The Warehouse District is only a five minute walk to the Phoenix Valley Metro Light Rail and numerous retail amenities located downtown. The City of Phoenix is very focused on the success of the District, and is continuing to improve the walkability and safety of the area. The City’s preliminary efforts have already produced successful results as companies that would have previously shied away from Phoenix’s corporate downtown area have chosen to locate in the Warehouse District. These include Galvanize, WebPT, Gould Evans, Arizona State University and R&R Partners”